Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 181

Memoir: Defining What It Is

Since I agreed to critique a memoir, I decided it would be a good idea to brush up on what exactly a memoir is.  My first question was how does a memoir differ from an autobiography. An autobiography is birth to present (whenever it is written).  A memoir is a slice of that person’s life. […]

Unreliable Narrators

Yesterday I read a Writer’s Digest post about two truths and a lie. My own post has nothing to do with it but it is what led to my own post here. When many of us write, we stick to the straight and narrow.  Our protagonists are honest and always tell the truth.  Unless they […]

Setting: Luring Readers In Step by Step

Anyone who knows me knows that most of the time I’m reading one book and listening to another.  No, not at the same time.  Reading takes place in the evening.  And it is a print book.  The audio book is for when I’m rowing or doing handwork.  Rowing is a morning or afternoon activity.  Handwork […]

What to Do When Someone Else Just Published Your Book

Have you ever had one of those “oh poop” moments when you open up an e-mail announcing a new book and think “Oh, no.  That’s the story I’m working on?” There I was happily read blog posts when I popped open Susan Hawk’s blog and then I saw it.  “A Very Happy Publication Day for PENGUINAUT! […]

Highlights: Accepting Submissions

All of you Highlights fans will be happy to know that the magazine is once again open for submissions.  That said, the guidelines are new so even if you knew the old guidelines you will have to study this new version.  You can find the updates guidelines here. The thing that I like best is […]

5 Minutes a Day: Finding Comp Titles

This is a topic that I go over with my students.  My next session of Writing Nonfiction for Children and Teens starts November 12th. Before we discuss what you can do towards this end in five minutes, it helps to understand what comp titles are and why they matter.  Comp titles, or comparison titles, are […]

Picture Books: Three Act Structure

What are the best ways to structure a picture book?  In part, I’ve been wondering if you can apply the three act structure to picture books.  In short, it depends on the story but some do have this structure.  You can find it written up in Eve Hiedi Bine-Stock’s How to Write a Children’s Picture […]

Know Your Readers

Should your Halloween be super spooky or sparkly and Vamperina? Our tendency is to say that this is dependent on age level.  Older kids are cool with spooky.  Younger kids need cute Vamperina.  And that’s true to a point.  A young reader’s creepy and atmospheric is Creepy Carrots.  For an older reader you can get […]

Outside Readers: Helping You Create Solid Content

It’s been a while since the publishing world went crazy over the thought of sensitivity readers.  Was it a great idea or was it censorship?  And whose pocket was this going to come out of anyway? If you missed last year’s debate, the idea was that people writing outside their own experience need sensitivity readers […]

The Great American Read: The Results

The people have voted and the results for the Great American Read are in and the winners are: To Kill a Mockingbird Outlander (Series) Harry Potter (Series) Pride and Prejudice Lord of the Rings The funny thing to me?  Except for the Outlander series, I think of these as teen reads. To Kill a Mockingbird was […]